ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME by Wylie Fulton

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:37, 44-45).
Anytime and anywhere you find a person who has experienced the power of God, you find one that was elected by God the Father, given to God the Son to redeem, and then quickened into spiritual life by God the Holy Spirit. Election is the Golden Charter of salvation, the basis on which grace does its perfect work. None are saved but those chosen in Christ — “Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you” (John 15:16). None are redeemed and called but the elect only. We know nothing of an ineffectual, halfway “redemption” nor of a “calling” that fails to secure its object. Christ standing at a heart’s door, failing to gain entrance and turning away in defeat is not a picture of the salvation experienced by Paul the Apostle, for it is a caricature, a cheap and unscriptural deception. God’s salvation of God’s elect is the surest thing in all the world.

In preaching, we do not know the elect from others, and we publicly proclaim the word of salvation within the hearing of all. But the message discriminates, reaches only those whose hearts God opens to receive it, as Lydia’s in Acts 16:14. Say, my hearer: Has God opened your heart to His great, effectual and fully successful work of salvation? Or, do you still fancy that God’s merely “tries” to save sinners and that you have the power to defeat Him, to turn Him down? My soul! If such be your position and experience, you know nothing of the salvation Paul had.

submitted by Wylie W Fulton

THE SPIRIT WORKS WITHOUT HELP OF MAN

The blessed Spirit, like the wind,
Blows when and where He please;
How happy are the men who feel
The soul-enlivening breeze!

He forms the inward mind afresh,
Subdues the love of sin,
He takes away the heart of stone,
And plants His grace within.

He sheds abroad the Father’s love,
Applies redeeming blood,
Bids both our guilt and grief remove,
And brings us near to God.

Lord, fill each dead benighted soul
With life and light and joy!
None can Thy mighty power control
Nor Thy glorious work destroy.

by Benjamin Beddome

Growing in grace by C.H. Spurgeon

We meet now and then with supposed 'perfect people', but the most of us dare not whisper the word perfection. When I have overcome a whole body of sin and have risen to be somewhat like my Lord, it seems to me as if a new body of death were formed about me.

I kill one dragon, and lo, his body yields a crop of monsters. My evil nature seems to have coats like an onion, and when I have taken off one of them, it only lays bare another quite as offensive. Will it not be so to the end of the chapter?

You may be growing better; I hope you are, but I shall be all the more hopeful that you are so, if you fear that you are growing worse. If you think less and less of yourselves, it is probably true that you are growing in grace. But if you think more and more of yourselves, it is highly probable that you are growing in pride. C.H. Spurgeon

The faults of great men by J. C. Philpot

Luther did not come forth as a theologian fully furnished with a scheme of doctrines, or as a warrior armed at all points--but advanced slowly, as himself a learner, from one position to another, gradually feeling his way onward; taking up no ground on which he had not been clearly set down, and which he could not firmly maintain from the express testimony of God. It is true that this gradual progress of his mind involved him at times in contradictions and inconsistencies, not to say mistakes and errors--which his enemies have availed themselves of, to sully and tarnish one of the noblest characters, both naturally and spiritually, that the world has ever seen.

Admiration, or what a popular writer of the present day calls "hero-worship," should not indeed blind us to the faults of great men. But a discerning eye, while it admits Luther's inconsistencies, sees displayed more manifestly thereby, the mercy and wisdom of God. The Lord, indeed, was no more the author of Luther's errors than He was of Luther's sins! But as He mercifully pardoned the one, so He graciously passed by the other, and over-ruled both to His own glory! By J.C. Philpot

Contemplation of the Divinity by C.H. Spurgeon

The proper study of a Christian is the Godhead: The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with-- in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild donkey's colt; and with the solemn exclamation: "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. By C.H. Spurgeon

Why was His soul troubled? By Octavius Winslow

"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." Mark 14:34

In this lay our Lord's greatest suffering: His soul sorrow. Compared with this . . . the lingering, excruciating tortures of the cross, the extended limbs, the quivering nerves, the bleeding wounds, the burning thirst; were, as nothing. So long as our blessed Lord endured the gibes and insults and calumnies of mere men, not a complaint escaped His lips. But, when the wrath of God, endured as the Substitute of His people, entered within His holy soul, then the wail of agony rose strong and piercing, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Why was His soul troubled?

He was now bearing sin and, consequently, the punishment of sin; the wrath of God overwhelming His soul. Divine justice, finding the sins of God's elect meeting on His holy soul, exacted full payment and inflicted the utmost penalty! By Octavius Winslow